Assessment of financial challenges facing women entrepreneurs in export business

This research study focuses socio economic development of the country and the circumstances facing business women in export trade in Tanzania’s private sector. The private sector is basically characterized by informal micro business operations on the one hand and, on the other, by low capacity to graduate to a higher scale of business operations; i.e., micro to small, or small to medium and large scale activities. Women owned businesses are largely restricted to micro level of operations even when viewed in the light of the overall facets of the private sector of the country.While access to finance is a challenge common to all Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs), the challenge for women business owners in export trade is compounded by the multifaceted gender related problems. These problems inhibit their ability to access finance, which, even within the MSE sector, is one of the major factors accountable for hindering the emergence and growth of their businesses. This study aimed to find out problems, challenges, and opportunities facing women entrepreneurs participating export business, in financing their business, by assessing factors impeding accessibility of loans/capital to women entrepreneurs, determining the conditions required by lending institutions in order to advance loans/capital to women entrepreneurs, identification social factors considered by financial institutions in lending to women entrepreneurs and to identify financial options available for women entrepreneurs in Tanzania. Primary data was collected by way of qualitative interviews and open-ended questions with women entrepreneurs. Secondary data used was critically evaluated and collected from books, articles, company reports and internet sources. In-depth interviews were also used so as to gather more information from the entrepreneurs. Data from questionnaires was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and summarized using frequency distribution charts and graphs.According to the findings of this study, the number of women entrepreneurs who managed to secure loan was not only small but the loan amount they borrowed from financial institutions account for insignificant proportion to the total lending made to individual entrepreneurs. The number of women sole proprietorship borrowers to total borrowers is 47% in the case of CRDB, 22% in the case of NMB and 18% in the case of NBC. Similar trends were also observed in microfinance lending as the number of women borrowers at the national level is no more than 34% on the average. With regards to loan disbursements the share of women borrowers is rather marginal as they account for 13%, 14.1% and 7.1% of the total proprietorship loan disbursed by the CRDB, NMB and NBC respectively. The situation is similar in the case of microfinance lending as women accounted for an average of no more than 35% of total disbursements at the national level.Some of the important measures for easing the challenges women entrepreneurs face in accessing financial resources would include inducing financial institutions to adopt affirmative actions like setting up women’s desks, designing and provision of innovative financial products that would address the special needs and challenges of women borrowers. Non-financial interventions like promotion of business linkages between women entrepreneurs and larger firms and provision of training and advisory services would greatly augment the managerial and marketing skills and enhance the financial and technological absorptive capacities of women entrepreneurs.